SEC-S30W4: Building a Fable | Temi and Mighty Spatula

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Temi was six months old when her mother died.

She does not remember the accident. She only remembers waking up to wailing pots and plates. The space where her mother slept, right beside the dinner knife, was empty. Temi's eyes released a tear. She did not know what would come next. She only knew it would be a super lonely journey from then on.

For a while, the other utensils were kind. They patted her head when they came back from the dining room. They fed her stories about the guests, the meals, and some tricks they played. It felt like everything was moving smoothly.

Until the day it wasn't.

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At the UN Cutlery and Cookware weekly meeting, Mighty Spatula stood before the gathering and looked directly at Temi.

"Why are you always in the drawer?"

The room went still.

"Your mother, Mama Bisola, was the biggest serving spoon in this house. Wide. Sturdy. In fact, the first one anyone reached for when it was time to feed the whole table." He paused for some minutes to let his words sink. "But for that hot water accident which took her handle away (God bless her soul), she'd still be here with us."

He moved closer to her. "Why can't you be like your mother?"

Temi felt the floor crack open beneath her. She wished for a split second that she weren't some tiny teaspoon. She wished that she could make her mother proud, even from her grave. She looked around to see if anyone felt empathetic for her. But they eyes said otherwise.

One by one, the others pulled away.

In the world of kitchen utensils, laziness is treated like a disease. Nobody wants to catch it. Nobody wants to be seen standing too close to it either. Soon, the whispers started.

They called her Small. Lazy. A failed daughter.

"Good for nothing", Mighty Spatula said out loud one day when he couldn't bottle it in anymore.

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Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months, then one day, the house had a naming ceremony to host. Every large spoon was busy. Scooping, serving, carrying. Temi wanted to help as well. "Let me grab the chicken wings," she said, reaching for the pot of rice. "No... No... We have it covered," Mighty Spatula said, without even looking at her.

Temi pulled her hand back.

She stood at the edge of the drawer the whole afternoon and watched them work. Nobody called her name or looked her way. She returned to the shelf that evening shaken and asking herself.

Why am I even here?

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One hot afternoon, the little girl in the house came down with a fever. The doctor prescribed 5ml of medicine, every four hours. Her parents went through every drawer and every cabinet. Every large spoon was either too wide, or too deep for the child's mouth.

Then they found Temi.

They lifted her carefully. Poured the required dosage into her and she held the medicine perfectly without spilling a drop. Her size slipped past the girl's lips easily as well. By morning, the fever had broken.

After use, they washed Temi gently, dried her with care and placed her back in the drawer like some precious gem. Every utensil in the kitchen watched in silence.

Temi felt like Queen Spoon Elizabeth that very moment. She smiled and waved warmly at Mighty Spatula and the others. At that moment, she was glad that she had found her purpose.

Moral lesson: Do not measure a person's worth by their age, size, or status. The one everyone writes off can be the one everyone needs the most.

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